Old Habits Die Hard
by coveryoureyes
Summary: Of course she'd noticed the weird stuff going on in Beacon Hills. But Edie had enough to deal with. All she wanted was to graduate, play with her band, and go off to a decent college. Being turned into a vampire was not on the agenda. To make things even worse, the only people in this town who seemed like they could help her was a random group of juniors. Eventual Stiles/OC
1. Chapter 1

Edie's eyes flew open and the blurry haze covering her eyes slowly dissipated. The sky was a clear blue, only a few clouds littering it, and a soft breeze was blowing.

 _Huh. I would have thought I'd go to hell._

The whole afterlife thing honestly left her a little disappointed. She ached all over, and she could distinctly feel rocks digging into her back. In fact, if she didn't know any better she'd have the impression that she was still alive. But that was impossible.

After all, she distinctly remembered the feeling of getting her throat ripped out.

She spent a moment or two contemplating her situation and trying not to get too worked up, but dying had not been on her list of things to do senior year of high school. However a sudden shout broke her out of her musing, and she whipped her head to the side to locate the source of the voice.

An elderly man was approaching her, having apparently seen her from the sidewalk.

"You okay kid? You don't look so good."

Without thinking, Edie quickly responded, "Oh I'm fine, don't worry."

He didn't seem convinced, and raised his eyebrows when he said, "Your definition of 'fine' is lying on your back under a tree at the edge of the preserve, covered in what looks like blood?"

It took only a second for her to reassess her situation. She evidently wasn't dead, though logically she should have kicked the bucket. And right now her top priority was making this guy go away so she could figure out _what the ever-loving fuck was going on._ She slowly climbed to her feet and tried to hide her wince when her joints all decided to go on strike. Brushing off the back of her jeans, she pasted on a wide smile.

"Sorry to worry you, I'm just resting. As you can see I get pretty awful nosebleeds and I was feeling lightheaded. I'm actually on my way home as we speak."

The man opened his mouth, looking entirely unconvinced, but Edie was already off, walking down the path through the woods that she recognized as the trail that would lead her home, shouting a quick "have a nice day" over her shoulder.

She reached her house in minutes, thanking God that her parents were away for the weekend before quickly climbing up the front porch and stripping off the shirt that was, as the stranger had pointed out, stiff with dried blood.

Not allowing herself to think in depth about what was happening just yet – evasion was her specialty - she went into the kitchen and grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge before walking up the stairs and entering her room. She pulled on an old t-shirt from a fundraiser she'd helped out at and quickly wiped the blood off her neck that she could see in her mirror with a nearby face towel. Plopping down on her beanbag chair, she popped open the top of her drink and decided to finally work out what had happened.

 _Alright, itinerary of last night._

 _Went to Vicky's house to study for AP English._

 _Decided to walk home._

 _Stopped to help the injured guy –_

Wait. The injured guy. Flashes of memories began coming back to her, annoyingly similar to the process of trying to recall a night after getting wasted.

She'd nearly been home, just entering the forest when she saw a young man, more like a teenager, leaning against a tree and pushing out labored breaths. When she'd approached him he'd looked up and lunged at her before biting her ne –

Nope. Fuck no. This wasn't happening. Edie had enough shit to deal with. Things like this couldn't exist. Or at least she really, _really_ didn't want them to.

Of course she had noticed the "animal attacks" last year. She had been surprised that everyone had bought the mountain lion crap. Mountain lions were not pack creatures, and rarely attacked humans – anyone who knew how to Google should have known that. Further more, she watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer religiously, and had seen Twilight. Loads of incredibly unlikely animal attacks appearing out of nowhere was always the cover when something else was at work. Something that people wouldn't believe existed.

Edie had spent weeks thinking over what had happened, and was convinced that something outside of the ordinary was going on, before she decided that she would rather _not_ get dragged into whatever dangerous, possibly supernatural stuff was going on.

She preferred being alive, thank you very much, so she swiftly decided to push it out of her mind.

 _Well, that's kind of a moot point now._

Every one of her senses was on edge and Edie wanted nothing more than for someone to set her off. A thrumming desire for violence or manic behavior wouldn't leave and she hastily reached for the prescription bottle on her bedside table, popping two pills and washing them down with her soda.

This was out of the ordinary, even for her. The _hunger_ was beyond anything she had ever felt. It was warping every thought and all she wanted was to sooth the ache building in her throat.

Edie was skeptical, but she was neither blind nor stupidly in denial. She had been bitten on the neck by a teenager who had sported fangs, and even though she had tried her best to fight him off, going so far as to bite at the hand that covered her mouth, he had effortlessly overpowered her. When she tasted the rusty iron of his blood on her tongue and she was covered with her own blood he had ripped into her neck.

Waking up the next day, apparently completely healed, was not something that could be written off. And she was 95% sure that she hadn't had a bad acid trip last night. So.

This would definitely complicate her life. And it _definitely_ wouldn't end well.

 _Fucking vampires._


	2. Chapter 2

By the end of her day, pages and pages of printed out articles littered the floor, and Edie had found herself meticulously watching as many vampire and supernatural movies she could find while studiously taking notes on the mythological theories and principles that each source described in regards to vampires. The only interruptions were her periodic breaks for practically inhaling Cheerios

She had made lists of the different traits that vampires were rumored to possess, and Edie had begun trying out as many as she could to find which were true and which were made up.

She no longer had a pulse, or at least not enough of one for her to feel. Which was, uh, not very awesome. Instead of thinking too deeply about that, she forced herself into an apathetic mindset. Otherwise she'd go crazy. Well, crazier than she was already.

On the plus side, the sun apparently didn't make her burst into flames. Her skin just started to tingle uncomfortably. After discovering she could still walk around in the sun if she wanted to, she had almost cried with relief. Though Edie acknowledged that she probably should have been thinking more about the 'diet' aspect of being a vampire, what she had truly been afraid of was that she would be confined in the shadows for the rest of her life.

Garlic had never appealed to her, so Edie couldn't really know if that myth was true.

One thing that had been a _major_ letdown was finding out that she didn't suddenly have Wonder Woman strength, though she was a bit faster considering she'd had patella tendonitis in both knees as well as shin splints that seemed to have disappeared. When she exerted her muscles it merely felt like she had been stretching and was well-rested. Her senses were better, that was inarguable. When her text tone went off she'd nearly cracked open her skull after flinging herself off of her bed to get away from the shrill sound.

She wondered briefly if her cracked skull would have healed. She hadn't sliced herself open or anything to check her healing factor.

Ultimately, there was no real way for her to test everything. Quite a bit of the folklore she was finding were descriptions of how to kill vampires. Shoving a stake through her heart for the sake of sating her intellectual curiosity didn't exactly strike her fancy.

It was a Sunday, and when she heard the rumbling sound of her dad's Mercedes pulling into their driveway she peered at her clock and realized it was nearly seven at night. In her panicked state it hadn't occurred to her until now that she hadn't seen anyone in close quarters yet, and her stomach rumbled.

Shit.

Her mom's trilling call of "Honey, I'm home!" Broke her out of her reverie , and she tore down the stairs. Even if she was a pretty independent and tough girl, all she wanted was to hug her mom and cry, and for her mom to tell her everything would be okay.

Unthinkingly she hugged her mom tightly, burying her face in the junction where her neck met her shoulders. Her first instinct was predictable, and she opened her mouth before mentally smacking herself. It took _everything_ inside of her to seal her mouth closed. She ached, wanting nothing more than to tear into her mother's jugular. This was her _mom._ Not some random person. Would she be okay with feeding on a random person? Maybe criminals? Her skewed moral compass figured that was okay but –

Off track. She was getting off track.

She pulled back and thinly smiled when she took in her mom's surprise at the sudden show of affection, before turning to her dad and saying, "Hey dad. How was your weekend?"

He dropped their bags just inside the threshold of the front hall with a grunt and said, "It went fine. Your grandmother says hello, and she hopes you're doing well so far in your senior year. She wants to hear all about your college plans."

Edie nodded, and her mom blurted out, "Oh, we ordered Chinese on the way over. The delivery guy should be over any minute."

"Alright then. I'm just gonna head back up to my room. Yell for me when he gets here."

She flopped onto her bed and was distracted by the flashing light on her iPhone signaling a text message.

Oh fuck.

She had three messages from Corinne, one of which said she'd be late tomorrow picking her up to drive to school and another asking if she could copy her Stats homework tomorrow morning, and another three from Vicky over analyzing and picking apart a text the girl she'd hooked up with on Friday had sent.

Just after she'd sent off a few short messages responding to her friends her mom called her down for dinner.

She practically inhaled her egg fried rice and miso soup before it hit her again. She was a vampire. A vampire who could evidently eat human food. It still tasted good and everything, so she was going to count this as a win. Conversation with her parents was polite, mostly platitudes, and she excused herself quickly after she had finished with the explanation that she'd spent all of last night at Vicky's studying and she wanted to catch up on sleep before school tomorrow.

Truthfully, she was about to leap across the table and _eat her fucking parents._

When she made it back up the stairs and laid down on her bed once again she was surprised by the sheer amount of exhaustion that hit her. She spent two hours setting up a tentative practice schedule for the week that she proceeded to email Corinne to approve. After all, it was her garage that they'd been using for the last four years of practice, so she had veto power.

At nine o'clock Edie finally decided to tap out and attempt to get some sleep. Being dead – half dead? Partially dead? - was surprisingly tiring it seemed. She set her alarm to get up early enough to shower and blow dry her hair before school, and within seconds the world faded away.


	3. Chapter 3

Edie _really_ should have taken the volume of her alarm into account when she had set it last night. The blaring sound that emitted from it made her let out a shriek and lurch out of her bed, landing solidly on her floor. She scrambled on her hands and knees to the other side of her bed, cringing as she slammed on the 'off' button.

That was the scene her mother walked in on, most likely startled by the noise she'd made.

"So… should I ask?"

Edie shook her head silently, the alarm still ringing in her evidently much-enhanced ears.

"Alright then. I'm making – actually I'm forcing your father to make – French toast. I'll put aside a few pieces for you."

Without another word her mother left and Edie pulled herself together, dragging herself to her bathroom and hopping into the shower.

The water ran red.

Edie shuddered violently even as hot water pelted down her back. Her own blood was running into her drain. She hadn't showered yesterday after she had woken up into this nightmare, she'd only rinsed off the blood that was visible to her. There had been a ton of it beneath her t shirt that had dried on her chest and stomach.

Though she was disgusted, and admittedly scared, after washing and conditioning her hair as well as exfoliating and scrubbing harshly at her body she felt better.

Her typical morning routine hadn't changed in years – Corinne was the one in their friend group that constantly experimented and pushed the envelope, so she was able to get ready on autopilot.

After blow drying her newly-dyed blonde hair, putting on makeup, and throwing on today's outfit of tight ripped jeans paired with a comfy v neck, Edie went downstairs. Sure enough, her father – that man was a godsend – had set out a plate with two slices of French toast for her.

She ate quickly after seeing the time flashing on the oven's time display. Corinne was going to be swinging by any minute. Edie knew that if she wasn't ready by the time Corinne was parked outside there would be hell to pay. Not from both of the passengers in the car – even tempered as Vicky was – but the driver of the car was not so patient.

As if summoned by her thoughts, she heard Corinne's jeep outside and a second later Corinne's shout broke the calm atmosphere of the kitchen.

"Edlen Riley O'Neill, get your ass out here, we're already behind schedule!"

She heard her father snort as he walked in the kitchen. Waggling his eyebrows he drawled in a mocking voice, "The full name. You're in trouble."

She rolled her eyes and rinsed her plate in the sink before putting it in the dishwasher and grabbing her backpack where she'd left it on the kitchen floor on Friday night. She paused to reach into the side pocket and pull out her two prescription bottles. Dropping one pill each into her hand, she stuck her face beneath the faucet of the sink to fill her mouth with water and swallowed them down. After kissing her dad quickly on the cheek while holding her breath and shouting a goodbye up the stairs to her mom, Edie booked it out the door.

Corinne's pale blue Jeep Wrangler was in park, with Vicky in the backseat laughing. Edie smiled widely and slipped into the back alongside Vicky, who promptly punched her shoulder.

"It took you _forever_ to text me back. I had an over analyzing meltdown about my conversation with Jen with only this idiot helping me."

Corinne protested loudly from the front as they drove toward the school, which was luckily only a few minutes from where Edie's house laid just inside of the Preserve.

As they turned into the parking lot, Vicky and Edie let out a loud groan. At Beacon Hills High School, there was another student who had began to drive a blue Jeep at some point in the girls' junior year. Corinne had seen it as a personal affront, and whenever the Jeep was parked in front of the school she felt the need to park on the opposite end so they wouldn't be compared.

Corinne rolled her eyes at their dramatic reactions as they drove to the other end of the lot, but seemed to remember what she'd said yesterday when she glanced back to Edie in the rear view mirror and said, "Hey babe, can I get the stats homework during lunch?"

Edie hadn't really been focusing on the conversation, instead pondering her newly-adopted-vampirism. In close quarters with her two best friends, she was feeling incredibly anxious and thirsty beyond anything else. She was non stop cracking her knuckles and bouncing her leg, clear signs to anyone who knew her that she was feeling twitchy.

She saw Vicky shoot her a concerned look out of the corner of her eye and _knew_ that she would be badgered for an explanation later by her best friend, who probably assumed that she was having a manic episode.

But the worst part, by far, was the thirst. Edie was sharply reminded of the times during gym class when they used to have to run a timed mile. After crossing the finish line Edie had essentially played dead and laid on the ground until she could guzzle water.

This sensation was nearly identical. The acidic burn in her throat felt like she badly needed a cold drink. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out one of the two cans of Diet Coke her dad always knew to pack for her and quickly began sipping on it.

The sharp jab of Corinne poking her snapped her out of her contemplation, and she raised her eyebrows as she said in a dry tone, "Now what have we said about keeping our hands to yourself?"

Undeterred, Corinne didn't respond to the barb, just answering, "Fuck if I know. But really. Stats homework. Lunch. We good?"

Edie nodded, and Corinne turned back around, satisfied with her answer. When Corinne had found a spot they all grabbed their bags and hauled ass out of the car, almost jogging on their way to separate first classes.

Vicky stopped them all just inside the doors of the school and gave them her typical pecks on the cheek, leaving prints of pink lipstick they had all become accustomed to wiping off.

"Goodbye my lovely ladies, see you all at lunch!"

Edie and Corinne waved back as she flounced off in on of her usual pastel dresses, and they parted ways. Edie tossed out her empty can and walked to her AP Latin class, barely sliding into her seat before the bell went off. Unfortunately, the only seat that had been available was closest to the door, and therefore the bell.

When the bell went off at its usual ringing volume, Edie was left clamping her hands over her ears, as she gritted her teeth and struggled not to whimper too loudly. When the shrill noise stopped, she let out a sigh of relief and drew her hands back. Needing a bit of stress relief, Edie reached into the back pocket of her back pack, pulled out her favorite practice drum sticks, and began to absentmindedly twirl them.

The practiced use of her hands let her focus on the feeling of the worn wood rolling between her fingers, distracting her from the longing for a drink that she was sure involved tapping a vein. Her teacher had been sitting at his desk organizing a stack of papers, and without further ado stood and strode up to the blackboard.

Because she was sitting in the front row, immediately his eyes were drawn to her quick hand motions, and he let out an exasperated but somewhat amused sigh.

"Any chance of putting away the drumsticks today, Miss O'Neill?"

Edie knew a shit eating grin was spread across her face when she leaned back in her chair and answered cheerfully the same way she had since the first day of class when he asked. "No, sir."

Mr. Peters just rolled his eyes and responded, "Just refrain yourself from using your desk as a drum set today."

Edie nodded and focused in on the lecture as he began diving in to Vergil's Aeneid.

Sitting in the first row facing front, she had completely missed the look of alarm that had covered Lydia Martin's face two rows back when she had reacted so drastically to the sound of the bell.


	4. Chapter 4

Stiles had been zoning out, staring into his locker blankly and not really seeing anything. Getting two hours of sleep studying for a test would do that to a guy. Because of his blurry state of mind, he jumped almost a foot in the air when Lydia slammed his locker shut suddenly with one hand as she leaned toward him.

"We have a problem."

Still recovering from his moment of shock, it took a second for him to shed his tired state of mind. When he had gathered himself, he focused his attention and grew serious when he saw the worried look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"Unless she was painfully hungover on a Monday, I think one of the girls in my Latin class has supernatural hearing."

Stiles nodded, already formulating possible plans as to how to approach the situation. If Lydia was right – as she usually tended to be – this had to be handled delicately. If the girl really was supernatural, they were in trouble. _Especially_ if she was a wolf. After the summer, Boyd and Erica had returned to Derek's pack, joined by Derek's sister Cora who had apparently survived the fire.

When the Alpha pack had attempted to take over what had for generations been the Hale family's territory, it had taken the efforts of all of them together over the course of almost four months to drive them off, and Isaac had nearly been killed. Peter had been planning to kill Derek and inherit the Alpha title before laying waste to the rest of the wolves, and being forced to kill Peter devastated Derek.

Scott ascending to his super-wolfy true Alpha status during the final battle hadn't exactly helped to stabilize the dynamic between the wolves.

The last thing they needed was another supernatural creature stirring up the Beacon Hills drama.

Stiles let out an annoyed sigh and turned to meet her eyes, asking in a resigned tone, "Who is it?"

"Edlen O'Neill. She's that senior in-"

"In the band. Yeah, I know who you mean. She's one of the scary-but-hot girls."

Lydia snorted, apparently not agreeing, but didn't verbally dispute what he'd said.

"Tell Scott to investigate when he can. I'll text everyone and let them know. We need to be sure before we can do anything."

He nodded in agreement and strode over to Scott's locker, trying to catch him before the next class period started.

He found Scott and Allison laughing together, looking heart-eyed as usual, and he made sure to loudly clear his throat as he slid between them.

"Scotty my boy, we've got a potential problem."

Scott glared at him for a second for breaking up their little love fest, but Allison instantly snapped to attention, her change in posture showing that she'd entered 'hunter-mode'. Allison was the one to demand answers, always being the person to take any sort of threat seriously.

"What's the problem? Is it supernatural?"

Stiles shrugged his shoulders and tried to appear nonchalant so neither of his friends would begin to panic or attack preemptively.

"There's a girl in one of Lydia's classes who she thinks might be supernatural, so we should put that wolfy nose on it. Edlen O'Neill, that senior in the band who's always playing with drumsticks."

A smile crossed Scott's face and he started laughing when he said, "Wait, isn't she the girl who distracted you from Lydia for almost two weeks the Fall of sophomore year?"

Immediately he got somewhat defensive and threw his arms in the air dramatically.

"She checked out my jeep! And wolf-whistled at me in front of the group of hot friends she was with! Of course I fell in love with her for a few minutes."

Both Allison and Scott were laughing loudly, and when the bell rang signaling the beginning of the next period Scott clapped him on the back.

"Alright, buddy. We'll investigate the one that got away. You should definitely be the one to lead the way."

Stiles could only make a frustrated noise as Scott walked away and he scrambled to his own class.

* * *

The day passed ridiculously slowly. During lunch Vicky and Corinne clearly noticed something was up, but when Vicky had opened her mouth to no doubt question Edie, Corinne had shut her up with a quick jab of the elbow. It was for the best. Each time she opened her mouth she started salivating and staring at the carotid artery of her friends, who kept leaning _right next to her_.

Of course the quiet had allowed Corinne to copy her Stats homework in peace, so her motives _might_ have been a bit skewed.

Corinne was going to be driving her home, so when Edie's last class got out early she just hopped up onto one of the wooden tables outside the front of the school and popped in an ear bud. At an absurdly low volume, of course.

The fresh air abated the burning sensation in her throat a bit. But after humming along to some music for a few minutes, Edie noticed a group of juniors staring at her.

She was used to being stared at. Not in a conceited sense, sort of the opposite actually. During her junior year when Poison Ivy – the band she was in with Vicky and Corinne – became more popular at local places and they started getting gigs on a regular basis, their social status had briefly skyrocketed.

At least until Irina Getz, the Senior head-bitch-in-charge at the time, evidently wasn't okay with the attention they were getting. One locker broken into and the discovery of Edie's meds later, and Irina had all the ammunition she needed to tank her.

Her bipolar disorder wasn't something very many people had known about. Her best friends, obviously, but only a handful beyond that. The posters plastered to the girls' locker room that proclaimed she was crazy and one second away from a psychotic breakdown had been… pretty fucking _awful._

Vicky and Corinne were the best though. They'd gotten all of the posters removed by third period, and both had threatened bodily harm if anyone spoke about it. Considering Vicky had the build of a twig, hers wasn't all that effective. But Corinne wore a ton of leather, so people assumed she could carry out the threat.

Essentially, she was used to the strange looks. When she caught the eye of a pretty dark-haired junior girl with dimples and a jaw line that could cut glass, she'd expected the girl to look away. However, she only squinted slightly and continued to size her up.

That was the strange thing. The group didn't look like they were gossiping or checking her out, they literally looked like they were trying to see into her soul. Which wasn't exactly a welcome sensation.

Everything seemed to go to shit when the tan kid with a wonky jaw suddenly looked alarmed and widened his eyes in apparent shock. The juniors burst into conversation, so finally Edie got fed up and shouted out, "Anything to contribute, gang?"

All of them looked in different directions. Fuck, they had _no_ subtlety. But when the pale kid with messy dark hair was apparently voted to actually approach her and shoved in her direction, she relaxed a bit.

The guy looked strangely familiar for a second, and Edie tried to place him. Before she could figure it out, however, he was already in front of her and self consciously running his hand through his bed head.

"You're Edlen O'Neill, right?"

Without thinking about it, she interrupted him and said, "Just Edie."

He nodded along and continued as if she hadn't spoken when he said, "You're in the local band, right?"

A huge smile broke over Edie's face when she realized that his approach didn't seem to have any weird underhand motives. And talking about Poison Ivy always made her mood improve drastically.

"Yeah, I am. What's up?"

He seemed to freeze for a second and his own smile looked a little bit more natural when he asked, "I know you're a drummer, and I've actually wanted to learn for a while. I was wondering if you do lessons or we could figure something out so you could teach me."

Edie popped the ear bud completely out and laughed before she held up her hand for a high five. The guy took just a second too long to slap her hand, but she got the sense he was a little awkward. Which she could totally work with.

"Oh, and I'm St-"

Edie lurched forward and straightened her posture, finally remembering how she knew him. She pointed her finger at him and was almost laughing too hard to speak when she interrupted him.

"Oh my god, you're the dude with the jeep! The light blue jeep! My friend absolutely _resents_ that hers isn't the only one anymore. You're Stilinski, right?"

Stilinski seemed to flail in response and said, "Stiles, actually. But does the lesson thing work out?"

Edie nodded enthusiastically and opened the contacts on her phone.

"Put yourself in then send yourself a text so you have my number. I'm free after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I love playing and need the practice anyway, so you can pay me in soda and snacks or something, no actual transaction necessary. Tomorrow afternoon work for you?"

Stiles looked blindsided and his mouth dropped open slightly as he nodded, but he did as she asked with jerky, somewhat hilarious movements.

A string of honking grabbed her attention and she snatched her phone back when she began walking backwards towards Corinne's car.

"See you around, Stilinski!"

With a quick wink that made the guy flush neon red, Edie smirked and hopped in beside Vicky to no-doubt be interrogated about the conversation.

* * *

 _Hey everyone - in regard to portraying a character with bipolar disorder, I have it myself and will be representing it in a realistic and respectful manner._

 _As always, review to let me know what you think of Edie, the plot, any predictions, etc. xx_


	5. Chapter 5

Stiles was frozen, staring at the place that the blue jeep had been occupying a second before. He heard the others approach him but was still somewhat startled when Scott clapped him on the back.

"Way to go, dude! You managed to interact with a former crush without making a total fool of yourself!"

Erica snickered but muttered loud enough for all of them to hear, "Don't think it's a 'former' crush anymore."

The comment made him blush a little bit, and he couldn't come up with a comeback fast enough to counteract the comment Isaac said in a falsely cheerful tone.

"I think you have a chance, Stilinski. Girls with no pulse probably have lower standards than you're used to."

They all seemed to tense up once more at the reminder of what Scott had noticed when he had tried to listen to her heartbeat, and Lydia was the one to break the silence.

"We have to meet with Derek tonight. Figure out what sort of creature she could be. Did she seem _off_ at all? More than usual, I mean. We all remember last year, we should factor that in, too."

None of them spoke, and when Lydia looked up from where she was scrolling the internet on her phone she seemed to realize that none of them knew what she was talking about. After she huffed and rolled her eyes in apparent exasperation with their cluelessness, she spoke in an exaggeratedly slow voice.

"Last year everyone found out about her bipolar disorder. It's a mental illness characterized by periods of depression and mania, during which the individual is abnormally energetic, happy, or irritable. Meaning it's normal for her behavior to be erratic."

A beat of silence followed before Scott chimed in, "So we're dealing with a zombie that also might be a little touchy. Okay. We've got this."

Stiles felt a pang of pity for the senior. While he always joked about his ADD, having a mental illness broadcasted to the school had to have really sucked. However, he had to be focused on the issue at hand and cut in before the conversation could get too off track.

"I'm meeting with her tomorrow. After we talk to Derek tonight we can decide what to do when I'm with her. We can confront her or try to get more information."

Stiles nodded along, but felt a little bad at the same time that they'd have to investigate and possibly get rid of the girl who seemed normal. And, well, pretty fucking awesome.

Yeah. A crush on a dead girl was apparently a thing that was happening.

* * *

She'd been stupid. So, so stupid to think that she would be able to handle everything without any complications. Of course she had been wondering about the whole 'diet' aspect of being a vampire, but whether it was cockiness or denial, Edie had convinced herself that maybe she didn't need to drink blood. Maybe if she continued eating like she always had she wouldn't give in to the craving.

Her mom was still at work and wouldn't be home for another two hours, but her dad worked from home. It was just the two of them in the kitchen.

Edie was trying to drown out the sound of her father's screams.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"

Her father was tightly clutching his hand, which he had wrapped in a nearby dish towel. The moment he had shallowly sliced open his hand, Edie had lost any bit of control she'd been holding on to. As soon as she had closed her mouth over his hand, she had bitten down _hard_ , causing his cut to deepen and tear open further as she tried to swallow mouthful after mouthful as quickly as possible.

His hoarse shout had pulled her back into the present, but when she had jumped back and tried to quell her panic, she had felt the blood dripping down her chin.

"What the hell is the matter with you? Are you on drugs? Have you gone insane?!"

Edie took a step closer to her dad but he leaped backwards with a disgusted and fearful expression on his face. She finally was able to get a grip on his wrist and force him to meet her gaze.

"Dad, please _, I didn't mean to. Can we please forget_ –"

She was cut off when suddenly her father's expression went slack and he repeated back to her in an even tone, "You didn't mean to. We've forgotten about it."

This was too much. Mind control? Edie couldn't – _this was too much_. As she slid to the floor and began hyperventilating, she noted that her dad was kneeling next to her. He drew her into his chest and began rubbing her back while making soothing noises.

"It's okay, honey. You're okay, just breathe."

It took a few minutes for Edie to get herself under control, but when she finally pulled out of her dad's embrace she wasn't at all comforted. The two of them stood, and her father looked down to his hand.

"Huh. I didn't realize I'd cut my hand so deeply. I'll drive over to the doctor for some stitches. Can you cover for me when your mom gets home?"

Her father finished his question with a joking wink, and Edie choked back tears as she tried to smile and nodded. After less than a minute he had grabbed his car keys and left.

Edie walked up to her room robotically and sat down on her bed. When she raised her eyes and saw the blood drying on her face in the mirror hanging on the wall, she finally buried her face in her hands and _screamed_.


End file.
